There was a phase when the industry feared that digital would eventually replace the medical sales representative but it appears that digital engagements work best when facilitated by an affable and knowledgeable person, who can personalize the information, and the conversation, to the doctor. In pharma, there’s no substituting face-to-face dialogue it seems. And why should it? “Rather than digital replacing a person in pharma, the need of the hour is digitalizing the approach of person. The person and the technology are HERE TO STAY”, says Archis Joshi, Commercial Head at Dr. Reddy’s. The sales role is getting tougher. Medical information, at one point pharma’s greatest value, is today much more freely available than it used to be. In the Indian market which is dominated by generic medicines lacking differentiation, simply informing doctors about the product, isn’t a viable prospect any more when it comes to piquing their interest. “Why are brands that have been around for some time still unable to cross the marketing funnel and are still stuck at either the ‘awareness’ or the ‘interest’ stages, and unable to move towards the ‘purchase’ or ‘recommendation’ stages?” wonders Mehul Shukla, Director, Marketing Excellence at Cipla.

The ongoing debate around branded versus generic medicines in...

For a person wanting to be a doctor, my...

In big pharma, leadership changes are rarely impulsive. They...

Yesterday I received a WhatsApp from a famous shoe...

When Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Bayer AG signed a licensing...

Indian pharmaceuticals have long been known as the “pharmacy...

Executive Summary — The Paradox of Scale In the annals...

In India, where urban sleep debt is rising, obesity...

When a new cancer drug shows promise, it trends...

When Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Bayer AG signed a licensing...

Indian pharmaceuticals have long been known as the “pharmacy...

Executive Summary — The Paradox of Scale In the annals...

In India, where urban sleep debt is rising, obesity...

When a new cancer drug shows promise, it trends...

When Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Bayer AG signed a licensing...

Indian pharmaceuticals have long been known as the “pharmacy...

Executive Summary — The Paradox of Scale In the annals...

In India, where urban sleep debt is rising, obesity...

When a new cancer drug shows promise, it trends...

When Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Bayer AG signed a licensing...

Indian pharmaceuticals have long been known as the “pharmacy...

Executive Summary — The Paradox of Scale In the annals...

In India, where urban sleep debt is rising, obesity...

When a new cancer drug shows promise, it trends...